environmental politics
Nov. 2018: Senate Races
The odds are that the Republicans will continue to control the Senate in 2018. The electoral map is very unfavorable to the Democrats, with many vulnerable Democrats up for reelection and only two such Republicans. But even if the GOP keeps control, their victory margin matters. It will determine how much maneuvering room that McConnell …
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CONTINUE READINGSmall Hands/Small Infrastructure
It’s not really an infrastructure plan. It’s a plan for toll road and local tax hikes.
The initial response to Trump’s infrastructure plan has been justifiably critical. Jennifer Rubin, my favorite conservative columnist, says the plan doesn’t pass the straight-face test. A good deal of it is designed to encourage privatization of infrastructure or to eliminate environmental safeguards for new projects. I want to focus on a different aspect of the …
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CONTINUE READINGTen Environmental Lessons of 2017
We’ve learned a lot in the past year, some good, a lot bad.
No one can say it’s been a boring year. In many ways, it’s been a worse year than we expected, because the Trump Administration has gone all in on its anti-environmental vision. But there have also been some heartening positive developments. Here are some of the most important things, good and bad, that we’ve learned …
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CONTINUE READINGBringing South Carolina into the Sunshine
A dedicated state legislator, against the odds, opened the door to solar energy in the Palmetto State.
Solar energy is poised to make an appearance in the state, in good part due to the efforts of a single Republican state legislator. That will be a big change: South Carolina has had essentially no wind or solar power, although nuclear accounts for half of its electricity. The state senator, Chauncey (“Greg”) Gregory, hails …
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CONTINUE READING‘Let the Sunshine In’: The Fight for Solar in the Tar Heel State
Despite utility opposition and conservative state legislature, the law is slowly shifting toward solar energy.
In North Carolina, renewable energy is more a distant dream than a reality. The state has a modest renewable portfolio standard (10-12% by 2018 or 2021, depending on the utility). Right now, the state is at only about 7%, with the remainder split more or less equally between coal, gas and nuclear. It has old-fashioned …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Growing Schism Between Coal and Oil
They’re both fossil fuels, but their producers don’t always have the same policy views.
Bush’s environmental policies were bad, but Trump’s policies are way worse. One reason is that Bush and Cheney were oilman, and Trump is obsessed with coal. Yes, oil and coal are both fossil fuels, but they have different economics and different policy stances. These are two very different industries. The U.S. coal companies are in …
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CONTINUE READINGRenewable Energy in the Mountain West: A Tale of Two States
Wyoming and Colorado are very different places — but renewables are thriving in both states.
Politics play an important role in determining the fate of renewable energy in particular places, but so does economics. The Trump Administration is trying to shift the economics, but it seems unlikely they’ll be able to have much impact. For now, at least, there are a variety of motivations for states to embrace renewables, as …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Place of Pruitt’s Nightmares
How is California fighting climate change? Let me count the ways.
In his worst dreams, Scott Pruitt must find himself surrounded by solar panels and windmills, pursued by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator himself, who has returned from the future to stop him before he can doom the planet. When he awakes, he realizes to his relief that he’s safe in bed well outside the borders of …
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CONTINUE READINGHow the filibuster shapes environmental law
Political structures affect how environmental law works
In case you haven’t noticed recently, there’s been some national attention paid to how the US Senate operates. In particular, a lot of attention has been focused on the filibuster, the requirement that for legislation (as opposed to judicial or executive nominees), 60 Senators must vote to close debate on the legislation for a vote …
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CONTINUE READINGForeseeable Yet Lamentable: Pruitt’s Attack on Carbon Restrictions
As expected, the Trump Administration is trying to repeal Obama’s regulation.
Few things were more foreseeable than a repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) by the Trump Administration. The Clean Power Plan had three strikes against it: (1) it addressed climate change; (2) it disfavored coal and promoted the use of renewable energy in electricity generation; and (3) it came from the Obama Administration. The …
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